ABSTRACT
The Industrial Reorganisation Corporation (IRC) provided, without deliberate intent, an ideal body for facilitating this private sector-public sector exchange. This chapter shows that IRC Board members were mostly senior industrialists from the private sector and also that there was little difficulty in finding people of sufficient calibre and experience to serve in the part-time role. Private industrialists and bankers are also appointed as non-executive members of the boards of public corporations. Not only has The Laird Group out-performed most other UK companies in the major problem area of mechanical engineering, Gardiner has also found time to take on a string of public and private sector board appointments. It has been suggested that the IRC proved to be not only a very effective means of providing cross-fertilisation between the public and private sectors but that it was a kind of elite state-owned business school.
